NFL Charities awarded $100,000 to scientists from Cornell and Weill Cornell Medical College to research tissue engineering for spinal injuries. The research aims to create a living, bioengineered intervertebral disc that may be implanted into patients with degenerated discs, either due to injury or chronic wearing with age.

"We hope to create a living implant that is able to grow, adapt and integrate into the spine in order to completely repair the injury and restore function to the spine," says Larry Bonasser, the principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering.

He and his team are using tissue and cells from sheep to mold into the shape and structure of discs. The cells mature and multiply on a natural mold, which will recreate a fully functional implantable disc.